Surgical instruments often comprise a distal end effector that engages tissue at a surgical site to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic effect (e.g., endocutter, grasper, cutter, staplers, clip applier, access device, drug/gene therapy delivery device, and energy device using ultrasound, RF, laser, etc.). For example, known surgical staplers include an end effector that simultaneously makes a longitudinal incision in tissue and applies lines of staples on opposing sides of the incision. Such surgical staplers often have a firing bar that translates in the end effector in response to manual or motorized drive motions. The firing bar drives a cutting element through tissue held in the end effector and drives a plurality of wedges against drivers that support the staples to effect the firing of the staples from the end effector.
Surgical instruments generally do not provide sufficient user feedback during operation. In general, for example, many robotically-controlled surgical staplers do not alert the user to the deployment forces and position of the cutting element during the cutting and stapling operations. Consequently, motor-driven endocutters where the drive motions are actuated by merely pressing a button are generally not accepted by physicians. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for surgical instruments that address some of these shortcomings.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate some of the shortcomings present in the field of the invention at the time and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.